King Charles was upset when the public rejected the King’s free offer after a ‘shameful waste of money’.
An official portrait of the king was unveiled in January after the Cabinet Office announced last year that special funds had been set aside to provide portraits for public institutions.
However, the royals were brutally stopped when only 40 of the 1,454 applied for a free photo of King Charles to replace the previous one of Queen Elizabeth. the sun
Fewer than three per cent of hospitals and only 82.7 per cent of government departments and local authorities in England applied for the offer, the report said.
Meanwhile, only 15.6 per cent of equivalent bodies in Wales did so. And only 35 – or 7.4 per cent – of the UK’s 475 universities wanted one.
When the scheme was introduced, the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic called the move a “shameful waste of money”. When more than 20,500 framed photos were sent in September, taxpayers paid almost £2.7m — with a typical photo costing £132.
Graham Smith, the Republic’s chief executive, criticized the government for the offer at the time, particularly as the public service sector, particularly hospitals and schools, was struggling.
“They need to end this scheme and send the money to where it’s really needed,” he said at the time.
The blow to the king comes after an investigative documentary, Kings, princes and their secret millionsrevealed that King Charles and Prince William made millions from their private properties.
The Sunday Times claimed that the royal duchess was “making money by charging the army, the navy, the NHS. [National Health Service]Prison service and state schools to use their land, rivers and seashores.